A New Spirit

February 17, 2001

A few days ago, our mail-person, Debbie, stopped to chat as she delivered
our mail. She related an amazing incident that we both agreed would not
have taken place prior to The Day Everything Changed.

Debbie and several dozen bystanders observed a woman accidentally smash
her car into another vehicle so hard that it damaged two others. There
were no injuries, but considerable damage to the three vehicles. The woman
quickly put her car into reverse and attempted to flee the scene. She
must have been shocked to find a dozen people running alongside her car
yelling at her to stop. Two bystanders blocked the exit from the parking
lot with their cars, forcing the woman to wait for the arrival of police.

Contrast that with the many incidents of citizen non-involvement in major
cities over the last ten years. Weíve all seen the news stories about
people being assaulted, raped and even murdered as neighbors looked on.
Asked why they didnít even pick up a phone and dial "911," the
onlookers often replied, "We didnít want to get involved."

The contrast makes me think about Cainís question to God in the Book
of Genesis regarding Abel: "Am I my brotherís keeper?" Sort
of a King James version of the smart-aleck response, "Itís not my
week to watch him." I mention this because I often hear people say,
"Iím not my brotherís keeper." In other words, "I mind
my own business, I do my own thing, and other peopleís problems are theirs,
not mine."

But in fact we are (or should be) our brothersí and sistersí keepers.
That was once the spirit of this nation, because ours was a nation based
on Biblical principles of love and responsibility. We watched out for
each other, we got involved. If someone was in trouble, we helped, even
at the risk of our own lives and safety.

People older than I may have a different perspective on this, but my
observation is that a huge shift took place in the sixties with the emergence
of the "Me" generation. Altruism was out, introspection was
in. "Personal fulfillment" became more important than marriage
and the responsibilities that went with it. It became fashionable, almost
heroic, to abandon oneís spouse and children if the excuse was, "I
need to find myself." Encounter groups, self-actualization, EST,
all focused on Me, Me, Me. "They" could take care of themselves.

During this Dark Age of the American spirit, there were still many people
who reached out to others, who got involved, who considered others before
themselves. There were heroes who risked life and limb to save others.
But in general, selflessness has been a foreign concept to Americans.
The attacks on 9/11 seem to have changed that for many of our citizens.

There have been many examples of this new spirit, which is really a return
of what we once called the American spirit. The first occurred just minutes
after the dual attacks on the World Trade Center. We will never know all
the details, but the passengers on United Flight #93 probably reacted
passively at first to the hijacking. But upon hearing of the two planes
that the terrorists crashed in New York City, they quickly went into action
and averted a massive disaster in Washington, D.C. Shortly after that,
when a man threatened the driver of a Greyhound bus with a knife, he was
overwhelmed by other passengers.

More recently a store clerk reported a man who purchased nine identical
teddy bears, canisters of propane gas, and hundreds of bee-bee pellets.
Others reported a van load of Olympics-bound people who were asking numerous,
specific questions about security arrangements in Salt Lake City. The
man who made the suspicious purchases has not been located as of this
writing. The van was checked and found to contain only curious tourists.
But the fact that people were willing to go out of their way to get involved
is encouraging.

We live in perilous times. Our nation, our way of life, and our values
are all under attack. The answer is not to steal our civil liberties and
our privacy by hiding cameras everywhere, snooping in our email or establishing
a national ID card. The answer is for Americans who love their country
to fan the small flame of this newly rediscovered spirit we see. If our
enemies see an America united, a people who care about one another, a
citizenry that is willing to die to defend freedom, they will think twice
before attacking.

A little-known fact about World War II is that the Japanese had detailed
plans to attack our West Coast. The Japanese High Command trashed those
plans when they learned that most American homes had at least one firearm,
and that we wouldnít hesitate to use them if attacked. (Admiral Yamamoto
has been quoted as saying, "There is a marksman behind every blade
of grass." That wasnít true, but the fact that he believed it to
be true saved thousands of American lives.) The Japanese went ahead with
plans to invade other nations which had neither the means nor the will
to resist them, conquering all of them.

The American spirit has been lost for a while. Political correctness,
liberal jurists, lying journalists and perverted Hollywood types have
all contributed to its loss. Itís nice to see it back.

Tom Barrett has been an
ordained minister for 28 years. He has written for local and national
publications for most of his life, and has authored several non-fiction
books. He has been interviewed on many TV and radio programs, and
speaks at seminars nationwide. Tom is the editor and publisher of
Conservative Truth, an email newsletter read by tens of thousands
weekly which focuses on moral and political issues from a Biblical
viewpoint.